DCUO for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and the PC is currently in development by the SOE Austin studio team in collaboration with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Comics’ top talent led by Executive Creative Director Jim Lee, SOE’s VP of Development John Blakely and SOE’s Austin Studio Creative Director Chris Cao. Lee, a comic book legend who founded DC Comics’ WildStorm Productions, is lending his skills as an artist, gamer and creative director -- he was the first player on his EverQuest (EQ) server to get the Paladin epic sword -- to bring iconic DC Comics characters like Batman and Superman to life in a way that’s never been seen before in a video game. For the first time, DCUO will let players create their own customized super hero or villain and wield amazing powers in the name of good or evil as they write their own chapter in the fabled DC Universe.

“The rich, storied world of DC Comics has never been available to players like this before,” said John Smedley, president of SOE. “For the first time, gamers can actually open the door and step into the vast world of DC Comics and choose their own fate. Who wouldn’t want to infiltrate Batman’s cave or fly over Metropolis as you speed toward a mission to help Superman?”

Supporting the game’s distinctive, dynamic look is a physics-based combat system that makes traditional role-based massively multiplayer online games a thing of the past. With DCUO, players will have virtual powers that feel truly epic in scope from the get-go. Fly around, grab a bus, and toss it at your foes. Shoot energy blasts from your power ring as you dash with incredible speed along the side of a skyscraper. Or turn rivals into ice cubes and then lob them from atop the Daily Planet building!

"This is a big step forward for DC Comics because it really expands how our fans can participate in the DC Universe,” said Paul Levitz, president and publisher of DC Comics. “Working with our colleagues at Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and the talented folks at SOE, DC Universe Online is going to provide a dramatic new setting for the DC world to grow and unfold.”

“This is a one-of-a kind type of game, and a lot of love has already gone into it,” added Jim Lee. “DCUO will be able to tap into DC Comics, which goes back more than 70 years, and use it in ways that comic and gaming fans have never seen before. DCUO is in many ways a reinvention of the traditional MMO; it’s a hybrid between the traditional MMO and a button-mashing, console-action game.”

Key Features of DC Universe Online:

-Based on the distinctive, acclaimed artwork and designs of comic book legend Jim Lee.

- Geoff Johns, the renowned writer behind popular DC Comics such as Green Lantern, Action Comics and Justice Society of America, has been brought on to write the saga of theDC Universe Online (DCUO).

-Iconic DC Comic settings and characters, from Gotham City to Arkham Asylum, Batman to Blue Beetle.

- Players can enter a persistent DC Universe and fight alongside their favorite heroes and villains to play their own adventure in the mythology of these legendary characters and locales.

-DCUO will be an online world that stays true to the DC Comics property and allows players to feel and act like super heroes or villains.

-Physics-based fighting turns vehicles, streetlights and other players into weapons, resulting in dynamic combat scenarios that are different every time.

-DCUO is being developed by Sony Online Entertainment in collaboration with top talent at DC Comics and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.